


Truth in The Tales

by vase



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Horror, Tragedy, With A Twist, fairy tale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 12:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5540504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vase/pseuds/vase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumours and tales of Grim that can pass for a person have circulated for centuries, and in the little village of Fable, its people may just learn that even the strangest of stories have a grain of truth in them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truth in The Tales

 

In the little village of Fable there was a kindly village elder who every week would care for the towns-folks children. She would sit them down around her and tell them tales of the Four Kingdoms, old aseops, tips for foraging and teach lessons on the Grim. 

 

It was a day like any other as the children, young little tykes they were, ambled into the elders wooden cottage. 

 

"Please shut the door on your way in my loves, I feel a mighty draft today," She said. The poor elder certainly looked more haggard than usual. Her silver hair, half hidden under a cap, seemed lifeless and white as bone, her skin was splotchy and dark as though bruised and her eyes barely open as she rested under a great quilt in her rocking chair next to the only window with open blinds. 

 

"Please sit, please sit, it will make this easier on all of us," She said hoarsely. As the children did so she smiled, but where her smiles were normally bright and open this one was tight and toothless. "Good, good, my sweets. Now, in your years coming here you've learnt much, how to sew, to cook, play fair and stay positive. And of course you've learnt about the Grim haven't you?" She said forebodingly. 

 

"Yes Elder May-Eye," They said, mostly, in unison. 

 

"Good, good, then I must have told you all about the most dangerous Grim to ever walk this world," She said. 

 

"We know about Goliaths!" One girl said. 

 

"And Tunnelers!" A boy called out. 

 

Before it could become louder the tottering old woman tsked and shook her head. "No, no, not at all, I can see there's been a mistake in your learning children and before you part I must correct it." Pulling up her quilt to her neck and said, "This is a type of Grim most don't know exist, and that's what makes it so special!" She crowed. "In fact, most people who hear of it say it's all a lie, but never pay them any mind my dears." 

 

She sucked in a breath and glanced over her shoulder towards the window as if looking for something before she spoke, "This Grim don't have a name, not truly, some say it's called sleeper, others sneaker, some slit throat. But it's name doesn't matter cos not one of them looks alike. Cos you see little ones, these Grim, look like us." 

 

"But grandmother, that's impossible, Grim are big and scary!" A girl in frumpy clothes and a big hat called out. Many children called their elder grandmother, a sign of affection no doubt. 

 

"Most are little one, most are, but not them," She tutted, almost condescendingly. "These Grim ain't fighters like the others, they're cunning, they're devious, blending in wherever they need to get by. But I don't mean in the woods, no, that's how it starts but they don't stay that way, no, no, no," She said, shaking her head. 

 

"These Grim can look like anyone you see, they can look like, you, me, you're ma and pa, and they can act like-em to!" A nervous shudder ran through the old woman's audience as wide eyes children began to look at one another and their caretaker nervously. A few of the older children puffed out their chests and put on stoic faces for their younger kin. 

 

"Oh don't bother with that now little one's, these Grim can't be fooled by pride and moxy. I said they were smart didn't I? They're the smartest of Grim! Others start out dumb but get brighter as they grow, these one's start out clever and weak, but get smarter right quick!" She said, slapping her hidden hand on the arm of her chest with a crack. 

 

Most of her audience jumped back in shock, but some stayed frozen in fright. "You see these Grim play an important role, the most important role. When your mothers and fathers are out hunting, gathering herbs and scouting one will get away from the group, called by a voice of someone they once knew some say. But it's a trap, they get led right to a Grim strong enough to take them without a fight and like that, they're gone."

 

Her voice grew raspier and tighter as she spoke. "Soon, someone who looks like them, talks like them, and by all rights should be them, finds the group again and returns home. But it ain't them, it's the Grim that made itself look like them. Say... Didn't your sister camp out in the woods a few days ago?" She added, motioning to a brown haired boy on the cusp of puberty. 

 

He nodded slowly, licking his chapped lips and fumbling with his nice dress shirt. "Yes grandmother, she was looking for some rare herbs," The boy quivered, "Said it took her long time to find them..." 

 

"A classic excuse, watch her carefully my my beloved, for these Grim are crafty," She said, freeing a single gnarled finger to point at the boy. The tension was growing in the group, their fear spreading and growing and feeding and gorging itself on paranoia. Clutching her heads a girl began to shiver. 

 

"This was why communities kept Faunus out, looked like Grim that hadn't quite gotten their disguise right you see?" The elder continued. 

"Truth is, they could be hiding right. Under. Your. Nose," She said, tapping the nearest child on the chest before hiding her hand away again. 

 

"These Grim would go into villages and spread despair and fear wherever they went. Some might just attack outright, they were fools," She spat. "Others are brighter, they'll start killing, slow and steady. Working their way into the people's mind they find out who's the most needed, who's the strongest, who's the most beloved. Once they know that they'll start picking people off, spreading fear and confusion until there ain't nothing that can keep the Grim away and the people are lost to the dark." 

 

"But fear not my loves, there's ways to counter these Grim, they may be the best of the Grim but they aren't perfect," She said. "You see there's always something off about their disguise, something not quite right. Maybe their hair is wrong, darker and shaggier than normal, or their nails will look all white? Perhaps their words don't sound like they used to, the way they talk is wrong somehow?" The elder had been speaking strangely since they came in. 

 

"The teeth can be hard, tricky things, make-em smile and see if they look a bit too sharp," She said, clacking her teeth together and smacking her chops. 

 

"Grandmother, your teeth look awful big today," A girl said numbly. 

 

"Right you are my sweet, right you are, good eyes," She said to the drooping girl. Gasping as though having just remembered something she said, "The eyes you see those are the hardest part for any Grim! Eyes are the window to the soul and we all know Grim have no need for such things. Hiding the light in their eyes, hiding the hunger in them, that's hard," She said, trailing off. "It plays up in the dark as well, their eyes will start to shine, but of course, if you see that, they got no reason to hide any-more. Its too late..." 

 

Eyes flying open the elder's hand snapped out and brought the dark curtain shut with a snap. The children began to shriek and cry out, fumbling over one another for the door. 

 

"Grim! Grim!" They screamed... Only for nothing to happen. 

 

The curtains were pulled aside again and the village elder leaned back in her chair and tossed aside her blanket. In her lap there was a small wooded stick, she reached up and pulled the cap from her head to reveal her normally silver locks and a wig. She spat out a set of false teeth and chuckled. Opening and closing the blinds she stared wide eyed at the children who had mostly collapsed against the door or sat numbly on the floor. 

 

"Grandmother!" Some of the children cried in hurt and offence, others in relief as they ran up to the old woman and were pulled into a hug. 

 

"Sorry to give you a fright my loves, it's a cruel joke I know but before you go home today you need to hear the lesson of this little lie." Somewhat warily the children came to sit around her again. Taking in a breath the elder began to speak. "The importance of this tale is manifold. The people of old kept Faunus form their village because they believed them Grim in human form. Everywhere you go you'll hear horror stories about Grim that walk like women or talk like men. There's always been rumours of Grim that get so old they come to look like us, or Grim born to cursed and tormented families. Ideas like this can take purchase in you, dig in their claws and make you fearful of your family and friends."

 

"You cannot let this happen," She said firmly. "Unity, community, those are strengths we have and they are what keep us alive in this world. I tell you now so you understand so you don't think of it yourselves later. If that idea ever sets into a community it can become terrible, brother against sister, friends against friends. You have to understand that there's no Grim like that; those are just stories people made up to explain someone going strange in the head or being angry or give meaning to some terrible disaster like a real Grim attack no one saw coming."

 

Leaning back in her chair the elder sighed, "Now I think we've all had enough excitement for one day. How about you go and fetch that lunch I made for you? All this acting's made me tired." 

 

Eager for their meal and a chance to leave their fears behind the horde of children stampeded to the other room. The elder leaned back in her chair and smiled at the noise coming from her kitchen. 

 

"Are there any other stories people tell about Grim like that?" A high pitched voice asked. It was a small dark haired girl with a large hat resting on her head, she looked up at the old woman through tear stained eyes. 

 

Pulling herself from the rocking chair the village elder encompassed the tiny girl in a hug. "You poor thing, you're practically scared stiff!"

 

"Are there?" She asked more firmly. 

 

"Lots of tales, from such Grim being like spirits or snuck into cribs by their demonic parents. Some stories even say they forget they're Grim until someone figures it out! Hoho, my dear, there are stories for everything, but when it comes to monsters like that, none of them are true," She said warmly, placing her hands on the girls shoulder and encouraging her to meet her eyes. 

 

"But grandmother that's wrong," The girl said in a monotone, meeting the human woman's eyes with her own crimson stare, "Those stories are true..."     

**Author's Note:**

> So a while back I got to thinking about the humanoid Grim idea and thought, say, what if it's possible and it is just the way I have seen it approached that makes me dislike it? I mean, I've heard Roosterteeth said "humanoid" Grim would show up at some point so it seems like a topic worth considering. 
> 
> So, rather than it being like Hollow's where the older and stronger they get the more human they become, there are Grim that are like humans from the start? 
> 
> Then this happened. I hope it was effective, constructive critique is greatly appreciated. I originally planned for the elder to be the Grim, but changed my mind just before writing.


End file.
